tutoring reading

Thursday night Isaac came over for help with a school assignment. His penmanship was so poor that it couldn't be read and the teacher had told him to copy it over. She had him tell her what it said and had written the words under his so we could tell what he'd said. I showed him the "face of a clock" penmanship and had him try each letter a couple times and the results were beautiful. So we rewrote the paper.

Next day:

Me: Did you show your teacher your paper? What did she say?

Isaac: She said, "WOW!"

Me: That's all? Just WOW! ? It was better than that!

Isaac: Well, yeah, but she was just a substitute.

Memories: Car stories

My mom, Ruhama Adair, was raised in Orderville, Utah. In the early 1900's they still used horse and wagon for travel. She remembered going to the Grand Canyon in a horse drawn wagon when she was still quite young. She also remembered the first car or horseless carriage that came to Orderville and the stir it caused. She was 14 when aunt Teeny died. That would have been around 1920. After that she went to Salt Lake and attended East High School and worked as a maid for some of the officers wives at Fort Douglas. That is where she met Daddy and they were married October 11, 1930. Daddy drove a car but Mom didn't learn until I was about 5. I remember walking to town, about a mile, when I was 3 and 4. Mom would push the buggy with Dan in it and sometimes Naty or I would ride for a ways. One day we were just around the corner and I needed to use the bathroom only there wasn't one and when I had to go, I had to go, now. I wet my pants. Bill came along on his bicycle and took me home, changed my pants and brought me back to Mom and the others. It became necessary for Mom to learn to drive, so Daddy taught her. Our car was an old Buick. I don't remember the year, but they bought it when Naty was two so we had it for awhile. I have a picture of it somewhere.

Driving in Prineville , was somewhat like driving in Loa would be today. Mom really felt uncomfortable driving that car. It started with a crank. So she always began her road trips with a prayer even if she was only driving a couple miles. One day she drove up our 100 yard driveway onto the paved road, then down to the corner and on to the mile long straight stretch to town. We went past the canal, Lincoln Road, Melrose road, over the bridge and then slowed way down to go over the railroad tracks. There were a couple of men standing on either side of the road talking to each other. Our car made too much noise for the man on the right side to hear so he stepped out into the road to get closer. But as Mom went over the tracks something said stop! so she did. The man who had stepped into the road, put his hand on the radiator cap, and said, "I guess I'd better pay attention to what I'm doing. Lady, you are one great driver." The man on the other side of the road was also impressed. If she had stepped on the gas again as per usual she'd have hit him hard.

Another time on the way home when we came to the corner, she stopped rather than going on around. Just As she got stopped a group of boys on their bikes came around the corner and they were all over the road. If she had kept going she would have plowed into the whole group because neither of them could see each other until it was too late. When we started learning to drive she told us to listen for the instructions from the Holy Ghost if we wanted to be safe.

I was probably 8 or nine because Bill was 17 or 18 when the Ashlocks came to visit. They had become acquainted at church in Springfield when both had lived there and so they decided that we would all go over the McKenzie Pass to Springfield to visit others that they had known. The McKenzie pass was a very very narrow and twisty road through the trees and over the mountain. We decided that it would be more fun if the kids all went in our car with Bill driving and the adults went in the other car so they could visit. We had prayer and started out, us kids in front and the adults following. Everything was going well until we met a big old flatbed Semi truck coming around a turn on our side of the road.Bill made a sharp right turn, stepped on the gas and climbed the bank. The truck went past and its very tail end hit our back fender and squashed it a little. I was sitting by that window on that side, but you know me, I didn't even really know what was happening. Mom and Dad came along a couple minutes later and found our car up the bank and the truck backing down the road. Its driver hadn't even slowed to stop but his passenger just jumped out and came running back saying, "All I could see was that carload of kids." He and the driver were really glad to see Adults come along to take care of the kids. Mom walked us down a little side road to a waterfall while the men drove the car off the bank and assessed the damage. There really wasn't any except the crumpled fender and I never even noticed that the car was on the bank at such a slant until after we came back from the waterfall. I was in fourth grade when we discovered how near sighted I was. Maybe that accounted for how calmly I took things. Dad drove us on into Springfield and both Mom and Dad acknowledged that the lord had really blessed Bill in his driving. We went on into Aunt Tessie's and Mom read us "When The Grass Grew" from the Book "A Story to Tell" about George Albert Smith when he was a boy. I think that car was our old green 41 Chevy.

It's getting late so...more another time. Did I tell you about the first time I drove after getting my license and the green panel truck?

Remembering: Music

We attended one of the best regional conferences I've been to this morning. One of the talks by Elder Snow of the seventy was about remembering. We do tend to forget and that is why we should keep a journal, we were told. So I wanted to write about different experiences where music has helped me feel the spirit of the Lord and been a blessing in my life.

When I was about three years old we had moved to the house in Prineville where I grew up. One morning I woke up with a line of Music running through my mind. The house my parents bought was very tiny and at the time he had built bunk beds in a small room. Bill was sleeping on the top bunk and Naty and I were on the bottom bunk. I remember humming the musical phrase over and over in my mind trying to remember what the song was. When Bill woke up I hummed it to him and he told me it was "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet". I remember thinking what a beautiful song it was.

Later when I was maybe four or five, we were singing "Abide with me; 'tis Eventide" in sacrament meeting. When we came to the second verse that says "Has made my heart within me burn, as I communed with thee.," I was puzzled about what it meant and yes, even a little frightened. Later, as I was in bed with my Mom I dared to ask her what it meant. That is when she first explained to me what feeling the spirit was like. I remember feeling comforted and knowing that the Savior could stay the night with me.

I may have been 6 or 7 When I went to work with Daddy when he was driving dump truck for the gravel plant. As we rode out to the gravel pit to get loaded up with gravel to deliver, we sang "Beautiful Zion Built Above". I don't remember if we were able to sing in parts but I could hear the beautiful harmony of that song at least in my mind. Last week as we sang that song in church I could remember so clearly sitting on that high seat in the dump truck singing with my Dad.

Around that same time we showed up at Sunday School and all of the Melchizedec Priesthood was out of town all six of them. All the Ladies said, "I guess we can't have church without the Priesthood here." Mom said, " Look at this" and turned to the 20th section of the D &C verses 46 through 49. Then she said," Bill is a Priest." And verse 49 says that "he is to take the lead of meetings when there is no elder present." This was a branch of the church and 15 or 20 people at a meeting was a good crowd. So Bill conducted and either played the piano or led the singing, and he blessed both the bread and water for the sacrament and helped our one deacon pass it. I don't remember the songs we sang but the meeting went very smoothly. My respect for the Priesthood grew immeasurably that day And I knew that the scriptures are true and that we should know what they say so that we can solve our problems with the help of the Lord.

I will never forget the day that the Crosswhites were baptized and we had a piano player who really knew how to play the piano. I loved Primary after that and she always came. Our Sacrament meetings and Sunday School meetings were so much nicer and feeling the spirit was so much easier.

I remember singing parts to Silent Night around Christmas time in the early mornings still in bed waiting for the fire to be built and the house to warm up. The birth of the Savior and the need for a redeemer became so real for me. Sometimes the whole family would sing the Christmas songs in the mornings.

We learned the song "In the Garden" as a Bluebird girl to sing for them as we visited the Baptist Church. We visited many of the churches in town and learned of their love for the Savior.

And riding in the car. Since we knew the church hymns best, we always sang many of them and learned to sing parts. When Bill and Millie were engaged to be married, she went with us to Portland. When it was her turn to choose a song Millie was unsure what we might know. She was raised a Baptist and didn't know the LDS hymns. She was delighted that we knew many of her favorite Hymns from her church. This contributed to her conversion to the church.

Music has been a tremendous help in the growth of my testimony and the feelings of real reverence that I have learned over the years. Perhaps another time I can share some of my adult experiences of answered prayers through music in another post.